I have heard it said that every time Jesus performed a miracle, he did it in order to teach a specific lesson or make a specific point. He used his healing power not only to mend bodies but to illustrate his lessons and to help heal broken thinking.
Just crack open the Gospels and you’ll see it. Jesus healed a woman who reached forward to touch his cloak, and told her that faith had made her well. Jesus healed ten lepers, and one came back to say thank you. Jesus touched sick people, breaking unseemliness taboos. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, to show that the law serves us and is a tool to help order our lives, but the law of love is higher.
Each person Jesus healed came away not only with a healthy body but also an important message ringing in their hearts and minds. You are touchable. Your faith is sufficient. You are worth more than the law. The crowds and apostles who followed Jesus and saw his healing learned to look at life differently.
Yet each miracle also carried the same massage, one unified message that is bigger and more important than all of the little lessons taught in each individual instance.
Each person Jesus healed came away know this. You are loved. Life can change.
This is the core of Jesus message. You are loved. Life can change for the better.
This is the message that draws us in and opens our ears to everything else Jesus has to say. Everything else Jesus has to say is about these two simple statements. Just as the law and the prophets are summed up in two commands, love the lord your God and love your neighbor.
God demands these two simple things of us, and he gives us two simple things; love and the healing power to change our lives. This is the biggest miracle of all, the miracle that each one of us can receive. Not all of us need physical healing, but every single one of us has a broken life. None of us are living exactly as we want to, perfectly happy, perfectly content. We all need something--two important things. To know that we are loved and the power of love can change and reshape our lives.
This is what Jesus does, he gives us love and show us the way to a new life, a better life. He takes what is broken in all of us and fixes it. As we work through the process of healing we turn to God and others with new love and fulfill the greatest two commandments.
So next time you’re praying for a miracle, remember the greatest miracle, the constant miracle, the message of every miracle. You are loved. Life can change, life can be better. Just hang on to Jesus and he’ll show you the way.
January 25, 2011
January 19, 2011
Chameleon
I work at a job that requires me to be a chameleon. I have to change my skin based on the situation I am in and the person I am with. Sometimes I need to be silent and work quickly and efficiently. Sometimes I need to speak up, entertain and encourage. Sometimes I must show sympathy, and hold out a helping hand. Other times I need to push, to get someone to stop relying on me and do it on their own.
Jesus lived this way. He was gentle one moment with the contrite sinner come to him for help, and accusing the next with the self-righteous who wanted to trick him. In the Bible there are many, many names for Jesus, because he was a chameleon too. He gave what was needed when it was needed. Like the song by Toby Mac, “Whatever you need from me, I’ll be for you. Whatever I need to be to see you through.”
We have to be ready to change our skin. God requires us to serve others, and serving people requires us to change our skin, like chameleons. You need to learn what is required in every situation with different kinds of people who all have different needs. Know when to tease, and when to stop. Know when to encourage, and when to reprimand. Give what is required in the moment to lift up and to teach, to help the other move closer to God.
As important as it is to give, to serve people by doing and being what they need, it can be tiring, exhausting, completely draining. Sometimes you feel as if your self, the person you really are beneath the changing skin, is shriveling up. Sometimes you just need to get some space, to stick your head in a pillow and scream.
Like all things in life, service is a delicate balancing act. You have to serve yourself, keep yourself sane, or else you won’t be any good to others. Yet at the same time you must efface yourself, set aside what you need, to tend to the person in front of you.
It is tempting, oh so tempting, to throw up your hands and walk away. To give up the balancing act entirely and serve only yourself. You could be free of all of the demands, the pressure. Let someone else do it. But then you find you feel emptier and less yourself than ever before. The act of giving fills and heals our souls. We were made to help others; scientific studies even show that children have a natural instinct to help. We need to serve, which is why we are made with the ability to be chameleons.
A shifting skin and a secure core, the ability to be all things in all situations, and hold tight to the anchor that keeps my heart on track. I continue to fail over and over again at this balancing act, but I won’t quit. The rewards are far too great to just let go, and I have enough grace from friends, family and Savior to see me through to the end.
Jesus lived this way. He was gentle one moment with the contrite sinner come to him for help, and accusing the next with the self-righteous who wanted to trick him. In the Bible there are many, many names for Jesus, because he was a chameleon too. He gave what was needed when it was needed. Like the song by Toby Mac, “Whatever you need from me, I’ll be for you. Whatever I need to be to see you through.”
We have to be ready to change our skin. God requires us to serve others, and serving people requires us to change our skin, like chameleons. You need to learn what is required in every situation with different kinds of people who all have different needs. Know when to tease, and when to stop. Know when to encourage, and when to reprimand. Give what is required in the moment to lift up and to teach, to help the other move closer to God.
As important as it is to give, to serve people by doing and being what they need, it can be tiring, exhausting, completely draining. Sometimes you feel as if your self, the person you really are beneath the changing skin, is shriveling up. Sometimes you just need to get some space, to stick your head in a pillow and scream.
Like all things in life, service is a delicate balancing act. You have to serve yourself, keep yourself sane, or else you won’t be any good to others. Yet at the same time you must efface yourself, set aside what you need, to tend to the person in front of you.
It is tempting, oh so tempting, to throw up your hands and walk away. To give up the balancing act entirely and serve only yourself. You could be free of all of the demands, the pressure. Let someone else do it. But then you find you feel emptier and less yourself than ever before. The act of giving fills and heals our souls. We were made to help others; scientific studies even show that children have a natural instinct to help. We need to serve, which is why we are made with the ability to be chameleons.
A shifting skin and a secure core, the ability to be all things in all situations, and hold tight to the anchor that keeps my heart on track. I continue to fail over and over again at this balancing act, but I won’t quit. The rewards are far too great to just let go, and I have enough grace from friends, family and Savior to see me through to the end.
January 15, 2011
The Sirens Are Coming For Me
I could hear them start up even before I hung up the phone. In the distance, a siren wailed. I stood shivering in five inches of snow, listening as they got louder and louder, waiting for them to finally stop.
It's a funky sound when a siren stops, it gets really low and long sounding first. Then there it was, the little red ambulance with a pair of well-trained medics, a hammer and a pry bar.
Because I had come across a person in need of medical attention, stuck inside a locked house. So I watched two complete strangers come to the rescue, hammer at the deadbolt and get into the house to offer necessary aid.
I felt relieved and so helpless at the same time. I couldn't do anything except dial 911. But those three little numbers can make all of the difference, and the sound of sirens immediately answering the call was a great and wonderful relief.
How many people do not have that luxury? We take it for granted that help is at our fingertips, especially now with cell phones in our pockets we are never disconnected. There are perfect strangers out there just waiting for us to call, ready to come and help whenever we need it.
I can't imagine living in a place where I couldn't call 911, couldn't get help, didn't have a friend or family or government-employed stranger to rely on. I trust the world around me, but so many people live in a world they cannot trust.
I wish more people could think of the church as being as reliable as 911. When someone calls you for help, do you immediately jump to, sirens blazing, to get there and do all that you can to save the day? We are on call to be Jesus' helpers twenty-four seven, and we need to take that responsibility seriously.
Because there are many people out there who need help who would never go to a church because they know they won't get much help there. That is exactly the opposite of how it should be.
We need to let people know, friends and strangers, that they can call on us for help. That we will be there when they need us. That we are here for them. This life isn't for me, for what I want and what I need. I gave that up when I decided to follow Jesus. This life is for helping others. The moment I was baptized I became a spiritual 911-on-call. It is scary sometimes, being open to helping others, reaching out to them and letting them into your life. But it is well worth it.
Because if we can't call 911, what do we do? Jesus gave us a job to do. So make yourself open to it. There is no reason anyone should be without a helper to call.
It's a funky sound when a siren stops, it gets really low and long sounding first. Then there it was, the little red ambulance with a pair of well-trained medics, a hammer and a pry bar.
Because I had come across a person in need of medical attention, stuck inside a locked house. So I watched two complete strangers come to the rescue, hammer at the deadbolt and get into the house to offer necessary aid.
I felt relieved and so helpless at the same time. I couldn't do anything except dial 911. But those three little numbers can make all of the difference, and the sound of sirens immediately answering the call was a great and wonderful relief.
How many people do not have that luxury? We take it for granted that help is at our fingertips, especially now with cell phones in our pockets we are never disconnected. There are perfect strangers out there just waiting for us to call, ready to come and help whenever we need it.
I can't imagine living in a place where I couldn't call 911, couldn't get help, didn't have a friend or family or government-employed stranger to rely on. I trust the world around me, but so many people live in a world they cannot trust.
I wish more people could think of the church as being as reliable as 911. When someone calls you for help, do you immediately jump to, sirens blazing, to get there and do all that you can to save the day? We are on call to be Jesus' helpers twenty-four seven, and we need to take that responsibility seriously.
Because there are many people out there who need help who would never go to a church because they know they won't get much help there. That is exactly the opposite of how it should be.
We need to let people know, friends and strangers, that they can call on us for help. That we will be there when they need us. That we are here for them. This life isn't for me, for what I want and what I need. I gave that up when I decided to follow Jesus. This life is for helping others. The moment I was baptized I became a spiritual 911-on-call. It is scary sometimes, being open to helping others, reaching out to them and letting them into your life. But it is well worth it.
Because if we can't call 911, what do we do? Jesus gave us a job to do. So make yourself open to it. There is no reason anyone should be without a helper to call.
January 7, 2011
Faith
“Faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine, it just ain’t happening.”
These lyrics are from a song called “Screen Door” by Rich Mullins, a song that sums up the discussion in James, that faith without works is dead. Martin Luther didn’t like James, especially that verse, because he thought faith alone was enough.
I want to say that Martin Luther and James are both right. It’s just that most people don’t understand one essential fact.
Faith is not the same as belief.
You know something is true, you hold it in your heart and you know it in your head. You understand that Jesus came to die for us to cleanse us from sin, and that he rose again on the third day. You are sure that he is coming back again, and we will live with him forever. This is an entirely intellectual and spiritual pursuit. It is belief. This is not faith.
Belief sums up the inner world of the mind and spirit. Faith is where this internal belief intersects with the external world. Faith comes with action. You can know everything about Jesus and think it is true, and still not have faith. You can know next to nothing about Jesus and still follow him. Because faith only happens when we act.
Faith is when you act on your belief. Faith is when your trust in God leads you to do his will. Faith is stepping out in trust to do something you wouldn’t otherwise have done. This is faith, when belief prompts us to do, to act. We are not saved or changed until our actions change, not just our inward thoughts. We are saved by faith, and faith is action.
It’s right there in Hebrews eleven. This chapter is a long list of people who had faith, and it doesn’t just list what they believed, it lists what they did. Faith is when Abraham ties Isaac up on an altar, but knows that his son, even if he kills him, will somehow live on and make a great nation. Faith is when Moses raises his staff, and the sea parts. Faith is when the Israelites walk around Jericho. Those walls would never have fallen if they had not marched for seven days.
Faith is when Jesus dies on a cross, knowing that he will take his life back again, and save the world. Faith is when we tell someone about Jesus, give someone help in Jesus name, stand up for what we know is right even though the law says something different.
Faith is a lifestyle where our belief changes our actions. Faith is believing in God’s promises enough to act on them, it is loving God‘s commands enough to actually do them.
Faith is the unity of internal belief and external works. You see, there are two roads that both lead to the wrong place. The Pharisees, and many people today, take the road where you try to follow a bunch of rules about being good and honoring God. But the rules don’t change your heart. The other way is to say you believe and love God in your heart, but do absolutely nothing about it. Your belief does not change your actions.
Jesus spoke against both wrong ways, and showed us over and over again that the only right way is when both are unified. The belief and love in your heart must be manifest in everything that you do, and everything that you do should be out of love, not out of desire to follow the right rules to get to heaven.
This is why Jesus said that to hate someone in your heart is to commit murder. Our internal state and our external actions must match up.
“If you do not keep my commands, you have no part of me.” Jesus said it clearly. We have to love him, and we have to serve him. We are saved by faith, by making the effort to line up our heart and actions with His. We can’t do it perfectly, that’s where grace comes in, but we have to try. It’s the sheep and goats, those who did what Jesus told them to, and those who didn’t. Those who did were rewarded, those who didn’t were sent away. Every branch that does not yield fruit will be cut off and thrown into the fire.
You can’t profess God with your lips, and sit on your hands, and expect to be saved. You can’t check of the list of good things you did, and forget to love, and expect to be saved. Neither way is complete.
People tend to swing toward one end of the spectrum or the other. It is only the radical few who can maintain a balance in the middle, where belief and action meet. Strive for a balance between what you believe and what you do, because if the inside and the outside don’t match up, you’ll just fall apart.
“Faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine. One is your left hand, and one is your right. It takes two strong arms, to hold on tight. Some people would cut off their nose just to spite their face. I say you need some works to show for your alleged faith. There’s a difference, you know, between having faith and playing make-believe.”
These lyrics are from a song called “Screen Door” by Rich Mullins, a song that sums up the discussion in James, that faith without works is dead. Martin Luther didn’t like James, especially that verse, because he thought faith alone was enough.
I want to say that Martin Luther and James are both right. It’s just that most people don’t understand one essential fact.
Faith is not the same as belief.
You know something is true, you hold it in your heart and you know it in your head. You understand that Jesus came to die for us to cleanse us from sin, and that he rose again on the third day. You are sure that he is coming back again, and we will live with him forever. This is an entirely intellectual and spiritual pursuit. It is belief. This is not faith.
Belief sums up the inner world of the mind and spirit. Faith is where this internal belief intersects with the external world. Faith comes with action. You can know everything about Jesus and think it is true, and still not have faith. You can know next to nothing about Jesus and still follow him. Because faith only happens when we act.
Faith is when you act on your belief. Faith is when your trust in God leads you to do his will. Faith is stepping out in trust to do something you wouldn’t otherwise have done. This is faith, when belief prompts us to do, to act. We are not saved or changed until our actions change, not just our inward thoughts. We are saved by faith, and faith is action.
It’s right there in Hebrews eleven. This chapter is a long list of people who had faith, and it doesn’t just list what they believed, it lists what they did. Faith is when Abraham ties Isaac up on an altar, but knows that his son, even if he kills him, will somehow live on and make a great nation. Faith is when Moses raises his staff, and the sea parts. Faith is when the Israelites walk around Jericho. Those walls would never have fallen if they had not marched for seven days.
Faith is when Jesus dies on a cross, knowing that he will take his life back again, and save the world. Faith is when we tell someone about Jesus, give someone help in Jesus name, stand up for what we know is right even though the law says something different.
Faith is a lifestyle where our belief changes our actions. Faith is believing in God’s promises enough to act on them, it is loving God‘s commands enough to actually do them.
Faith is the unity of internal belief and external works. You see, there are two roads that both lead to the wrong place. The Pharisees, and many people today, take the road where you try to follow a bunch of rules about being good and honoring God. But the rules don’t change your heart. The other way is to say you believe and love God in your heart, but do absolutely nothing about it. Your belief does not change your actions.
Jesus spoke against both wrong ways, and showed us over and over again that the only right way is when both are unified. The belief and love in your heart must be manifest in everything that you do, and everything that you do should be out of love, not out of desire to follow the right rules to get to heaven.
This is why Jesus said that to hate someone in your heart is to commit murder. Our internal state and our external actions must match up.
“If you do not keep my commands, you have no part of me.” Jesus said it clearly. We have to love him, and we have to serve him. We are saved by faith, by making the effort to line up our heart and actions with His. We can’t do it perfectly, that’s where grace comes in, but we have to try. It’s the sheep and goats, those who did what Jesus told them to, and those who didn’t. Those who did were rewarded, those who didn’t were sent away. Every branch that does not yield fruit will be cut off and thrown into the fire.
You can’t profess God with your lips, and sit on your hands, and expect to be saved. You can’t check of the list of good things you did, and forget to love, and expect to be saved. Neither way is complete.
People tend to swing toward one end of the spectrum or the other. It is only the radical few who can maintain a balance in the middle, where belief and action meet. Strive for a balance between what you believe and what you do, because if the inside and the outside don’t match up, you’ll just fall apart.
“Faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine. One is your left hand, and one is your right. It takes two strong arms, to hold on tight. Some people would cut off their nose just to spite their face. I say you need some works to show for your alleged faith. There’s a difference, you know, between having faith and playing make-believe.”
January 5, 2011
Grace
It’s one of those words that is hard to define and hard to describe, yet it is part of the foundation of my faith in Jesus. It is a beautiful paradox that what we love can be so simple and yet so complex at the same time. I know it in my heart, yet I cannot describe or understand it completely.
Grace. Preachers and teachers have tried to explain the concept. It is cutting us slack when we don’t deserve it, giving something without merit, receive favor when it has not been earned. These definitions reach for the answer, yet I feel that they are incomplete.
I have said that Justice is when God takes something that has gone wrong and makes it right. Grace functions through the same principle. God takes what is offered and perfects it by accepting the offering as more than it is.
Now wait a minute, some of your say. You cannot earn grace. You don’t have to offer anything. “We are saved by grace, through faith, and not by works.” Yes, I believe Paul’s words, but I don’t think he meant that you sit back and do nothing and let God do all the work. You have to step up first.
After all, Paul said that to go on sinning on WRONG. Jesus said that his people will be known by their FRUITS, that is, by what they DO. So grace does depend on what we do, and yet it doesn’t.
Paradox. God’s good at those.
God doesn’t judge us by how good we are, how many people we fed or how many times we shared the Good News. He doesn’t expect us to do everything perfectly because he knows we can’t. Remember the parable of the talents. Some receive ten, some five, some one. What mattered was what each servant did with the talents they had received. Did they use them, or hide them? Do we seek God and give him our whole effort, or not?
Grace comes into play when we reach up to God, but our tiny arms are too short to breach the distance, so God reaches down as far as he needs to and takes hold of us. But we’ll never touch him if we don’t reach up.
Jesus gave the perfect sacrifice because he gave everything he was, everything he had, he submitted completely to God’s will. Now, God asks exactly the same thing of us. Give all you have, do all you can, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul.” When you try, God accepts your effort and its fruit. He does the rest.
But he doesn’t have anything to do if you don’t take action. You have to give God something before he can extend you grace, because grace happens when God takes what you have given and makes it perfect by accepting it.
We can give grace in our daily lives. Parents do it every single day when their children present them with crayon drawings and lopsided art projects or a badly cooked breakfast in bread. Does a good parent toss the offering away, or tell the child they must go back and color inside the lines? No! The Mom or Dad accepts the gift with praise and hangs it on the refrigerator. It’s the thought that counts, the effort, the act of trying, that makes all the difference.
God has called us to action. Grace is powerless without action. But when we move toward God’s will, he makes up the difference. This is the message I trust with all my heart, so I reach my hand up as high as I can and hold on tight and God takes care of the rest.
Grace. Preachers and teachers have tried to explain the concept. It is cutting us slack when we don’t deserve it, giving something without merit, receive favor when it has not been earned. These definitions reach for the answer, yet I feel that they are incomplete.
I have said that Justice is when God takes something that has gone wrong and makes it right. Grace functions through the same principle. God takes what is offered and perfects it by accepting the offering as more than it is.
Now wait a minute, some of your say. You cannot earn grace. You don’t have to offer anything. “We are saved by grace, through faith, and not by works.” Yes, I believe Paul’s words, but I don’t think he meant that you sit back and do nothing and let God do all the work. You have to step up first.
After all, Paul said that to go on sinning on WRONG. Jesus said that his people will be known by their FRUITS, that is, by what they DO. So grace does depend on what we do, and yet it doesn’t.
Paradox. God’s good at those.
God doesn’t judge us by how good we are, how many people we fed or how many times we shared the Good News. He doesn’t expect us to do everything perfectly because he knows we can’t. Remember the parable of the talents. Some receive ten, some five, some one. What mattered was what each servant did with the talents they had received. Did they use them, or hide them? Do we seek God and give him our whole effort, or not?
Grace comes into play when we reach up to God, but our tiny arms are too short to breach the distance, so God reaches down as far as he needs to and takes hold of us. But we’ll never touch him if we don’t reach up.
Jesus gave the perfect sacrifice because he gave everything he was, everything he had, he submitted completely to God’s will. Now, God asks exactly the same thing of us. Give all you have, do all you can, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul.” When you try, God accepts your effort and its fruit. He does the rest.
But he doesn’t have anything to do if you don’t take action. You have to give God something before he can extend you grace, because grace happens when God takes what you have given and makes it perfect by accepting it.
We can give grace in our daily lives. Parents do it every single day when their children present them with crayon drawings and lopsided art projects or a badly cooked breakfast in bread. Does a good parent toss the offering away, or tell the child they must go back and color inside the lines? No! The Mom or Dad accepts the gift with praise and hangs it on the refrigerator. It’s the thought that counts, the effort, the act of trying, that makes all the difference.
God has called us to action. Grace is powerless without action. But when we move toward God’s will, he makes up the difference. This is the message I trust with all my heart, so I reach my hand up as high as I can and hold on tight and God takes care of the rest.
January 3, 2011
Garden Door
Janie's got a hidden garden
she's been tending it for years
and when the world gets too oppressive
she hides away in there
Janie's got a sanctuary
where she can speak her every need
and when she's longing for reflection she falls
down to her knees
These lyrics are from “Janie’s Garden” by Erin O’Donnel. It uses a common metaphor for prayer: the garden, the inner sanctuary of the soul.
I recently read a book about the life of Saint Maria Theresa of Avila, a Spanish nun who was influential during the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Her historical accomplishments aside, the woman was a mighty prayer, and we can learn a lot from her. Maria Theresa reached an intimacy with God that few have matched, yet which is attainable for all of us.
Her metaphor for prayer, to explain herself to others, was a garden of the soul that you and the Master work together to tend. With slow, constant, dedicated care the barren ground slowly springs to life. Roses blossom, colors and soft aromas flourish. The soul slowly becomes a reflection of the paradise that we all long for.
It makes me think of The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgsen Burnett, where a young girl’s work to restore a ruined garden slowly restores the lives of those around her as well.
This garden is essential, and I urge you to cultivate one of your own; a quiet, beautiful place in your heart reserved for God alone. A place where you can meet with the Maker and experience his beauty and love. It will strengthen you and help you grow in ways you could not imagine.
But we cannot stay in the garden. There is a door, and we must use it. God wants us to join him in the garden, but he also wants us to leave.
And we do not leave empty handed. When I stand at the garden door, a green and growing paradise behind me, I am struck by the bleak landscape before me. The earth is hard and dry. What life there is has fought for every drop of water, and so is yellow and shriveled. We cannot stay in our gardens while a wasteland waits outside the door.
Cultivate your garden, and then take what you have cultivated out into the world. Take cuttings and samples and buckets of water into the parched land around you and begin the work again. It is harder, so much harder, to work this dry ground that the soft, moist dirt of a soul already prepared for God.
The way is difficult, and few take up the challenge. But we cannot keep our gardens alive if we do not extend the blessing beyond ourselves. We cannot sit in our churches and shake our heads at the world while sitting on our hands. We cannot follow God without declaring his message to others, because this is exactly what he has commanded us to do.
So go beyond the garden door without fear, because no matter how far away you get, the sanctuary you left behind is only ever just a step away.
she's been tending it for years
and when the world gets too oppressive
she hides away in there
Janie's got a sanctuary
where she can speak her every need
and when she's longing for reflection she falls
down to her knees
These lyrics are from “Janie’s Garden” by Erin O’Donnel. It uses a common metaphor for prayer: the garden, the inner sanctuary of the soul.
I recently read a book about the life of Saint Maria Theresa of Avila, a Spanish nun who was influential during the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Her historical accomplishments aside, the woman was a mighty prayer, and we can learn a lot from her. Maria Theresa reached an intimacy with God that few have matched, yet which is attainable for all of us.
Her metaphor for prayer, to explain herself to others, was a garden of the soul that you and the Master work together to tend. With slow, constant, dedicated care the barren ground slowly springs to life. Roses blossom, colors and soft aromas flourish. The soul slowly becomes a reflection of the paradise that we all long for.
It makes me think of The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgsen Burnett, where a young girl’s work to restore a ruined garden slowly restores the lives of those around her as well.
This garden is essential, and I urge you to cultivate one of your own; a quiet, beautiful place in your heart reserved for God alone. A place where you can meet with the Maker and experience his beauty and love. It will strengthen you and help you grow in ways you could not imagine.
But we cannot stay in the garden. There is a door, and we must use it. God wants us to join him in the garden, but he also wants us to leave.
And we do not leave empty handed. When I stand at the garden door, a green and growing paradise behind me, I am struck by the bleak landscape before me. The earth is hard and dry. What life there is has fought for every drop of water, and so is yellow and shriveled. We cannot stay in our gardens while a wasteland waits outside the door.
Cultivate your garden, and then take what you have cultivated out into the world. Take cuttings and samples and buckets of water into the parched land around you and begin the work again. It is harder, so much harder, to work this dry ground that the soft, moist dirt of a soul already prepared for God.
The way is difficult, and few take up the challenge. But we cannot keep our gardens alive if we do not extend the blessing beyond ourselves. We cannot sit in our churches and shake our heads at the world while sitting on our hands. We cannot follow God without declaring his message to others, because this is exactly what he has commanded us to do.
So go beyond the garden door without fear, because no matter how far away you get, the sanctuary you left behind is only ever just a step away.
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